/x^^^. <-o^ 






r THE 

CLASS OF MDCCCXXSII 



IN 



3,ml)er5t College; 



REMEMBRANCE CATALOGUE, 

COMPRISING A 

HISTORY OF EACH MEMBER 

FOR THE TWENTY TEABS SUCCEEDING GBADTTJlTION. 



COMPILED BY 

Z. C. MONTAGUE, 

(By request of the Class.) 



PUBLISHED BY THE* CLASS, 
1852. 



O^^J^u^cAJLy CL^^ y ^^"^"^ 



THE 



CLASS OF MDCCCXXXII 



IN 



Qlml)cr6t College. 



REMEMBEANCE CATALOGUE, 

COMPRISING A 

HISTORY OF EACH MEMBER FOR THE TWENTY YEARS SUCCEEDING 
GRADUATION. 



COMPILED BY 

Z. C. MONTAGUE 

(By request of the Class.) 



PUBLISHED BY THE CLASS, 
1 852. 



AMHERST: 
J. S. & C. ADAMS, PRINTERS. 






LiJ \5?. 



>-J »™/ ' 



It will gratify members to recall tlie names of those who belonged 
to the class at different times during the coarse, but did not graduate 
mth us. 



List of those who were on the Catalogue of our Freshman year 
(1828-'9), but did not graduate with the class. 



Names. 
Charles E. Abbott, 
*Samuel R. Brown, 
George J. Carleton, 
George Cooke, 
George W. Daniels, 
Benjamin M. Farley, 
James M. Goodhue, 
*James B. Gould, 
Alonzo Gray, 
*Ashbel B. Haile, 
*Josiah S. Hammond, 
Llewellyn A. Jones, 
*James H. Leland, 
Lysander H. Kingman, 
Benjamin Ober, 
James Oliver, 
*Neison Perrin, 
■^Nicholas Z. Prassas, 
Sidney Smith, 
*jNiathaniel H. Thayer, 
*Ariel S. Thui^ston, 
*Charles K. True, 
-•'Worthington S. Williams, 
* William P. Wilmer, 
-••Edmund P. 01iver,f 



Residence at the time. 

Brunsioick, Maine. 

Monson. 

Boston. 

Ackworth, N. H. 

Franklin. 

Hollis, N. H. 

Neioion. 

Sharon, Ct. 

Townshend, Vt. 

Governeur, New York. 

Carver. 

Lunenburg Co., Va. 

Charleston, S. C. 

Pel ham. 

Beverly. 

Salem. 

Seekonk. 

Smyrna, Asia Minor. 

Granhy. 

Dorchester. 

Bedford, N. H. 

Boston. 

Hartford, Ct. 

Alexandria, D. C. 

Nottaway Co., Va. 



* On the catalogue, also, Sopli. year (1829). 

IW As will be remembered, there was also one byname of Chute (or Shute), 
who was a member a short time in Soph, or Junior year, but not at the time 
the catalogue was published. 

t On the catalogue Soph, year, only. 



4 



LIST OF THE 

Names. 
William W. Adams, 
"William Allen, 
Nathan Belcher, 
James Bell, 
J. Addison Gary, 
Mahlon P. Chapman, 
Charles Clapp, 
Erastus Dickinson, 
William W. Forsyth, 
Lyman Gibbons, 
William Hall, 
Seth Hardy, 
Adiel Harvey, 
Benjamin Haskell, 
Benjamin G. Hitchings, 
Jno. C. F. Hoes, 
Samuel M. Hopkins, 
John Fred'k Houston, 
Obadiah M. Johnson, 
Perley C. Jones, 
Otis P. Lord, 
Zebina C. Montague, 
John Morgan, 
Henry Morris, 
George Newcomb, 
Stephen A. Paine, 
William H. Patterson, 
Jonathan C. Perkins, 
Edward Rowland, 
Israel W. Searl, 
Simeon Shurtleff, 
I. N. Stoddard, 
Horace P. Wakefield, 
Francis N. Watkins, 
Isaac Wethrell, 
Robert Wilson, 
Theodore S. Wood, 



CLASS OF '32 AT GHADUATION. 

Present Residence, (November, 1852. "> 

Little Rock, Ark. 

Lowell. 

Neio London, Ct. 

Monson, Maine. 

Deceased. 



Colchester, Ct. 

Alhany, N. Y. 

Mobile, Ala. 

Deceased. 

Vermontville {Eaton Co.), Mich. 

Plymouth, Mass. 

Rockport, Mass. 

New York City. 

Kingston {Ulster Co.), N. Y. 

Auburn, N. Y. 

Columbia, Pa. 

New Hampton {Orange Co.),N.Y. 

Chelsea, Vt. 

Salem. 

Amherst. 

Deceased. 

Springfield. 

Braintree, Mass. 

Provincetoion, Mass. 

Deceased. 

Salem. 

Deceased. 

Westfield, Mass. 
Plymouth, Mass. 
Reading, Mass. 
Farmville, Va. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Keene, N. H. 
Deceased. 



To obtain material for the following pages, a circular was issued 
to tlie class, requiring their answers to the following questions, which 
we here insert to account for a certain minuteness of detail in the 
statements which follow. 

QUESTIONS. 

1 . The place and date of your birth ? 

2. Your profession — when and where obtained? 

3. If married, when and to Avhom? 

4. Number of children, with the names and ages of each, whether 
deceased or still surviving ? 

5. Are you a professor of religion, and of what faith ? 

6. State your different emploj^ments and the time of commencing 
and ending each, including your different places of residence and the 
time of removing to, and from each place ; also your present employ- 
ment and place of residence. 

7. The state of your health and that of your family. 

8. With which of the prominent political parties (either State or 
National) are you connected, or which do you favor at the ballot- 
box? 

9. What degrees or titles of honor have been awarded you from 
Literary or Scientific Institutions ; what offices of honor, emolument 
or trust have been conferred on you either by the people or the gen- 
eral or State governments ; in fine, state all dignities and distinctions 
enjoyed, whether civil, ecclesiastical or military? 

10. A comprehensive statement respecting past and present pros- 
perity and your plans for the future, and embracing any interesting 
or important incident in your life which may have had a bearing 
upon your present and prospective condition, to be used or not in the 
compilation, at the option of the committee. 

Also — any member who is possessed of any information regarding 
the history and last sickness and death of those who are deceased, 
will oblige the committee by forwarding it to be used either as prin- 
cipal, or as facts corroborative of those already in possession of the 
committee : above all, in all your statements he concise : Give us 
Cacts ; give us dates, rather than opinions or comments. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The Class of 1832, in compliance with a call signed by ten mem- 
bers and issued in February, 1852, assembled in Amherst, at the 
house of Z. C. Montague, in their first, informal meeting in celebra- 
tion of the twentieth anniversary of our graduation, on Tuesday even- 
ing, August 10th, It was both interesting and amusing every time 
the door-bell announced some hew arrival of members, to witness 
the eager stare which the new-comer cast aroiind those already as- 
sembled, and his long embarrassed efforts to recognize among the staid 
dignitaries there present, the " college hoys,'' — the " Bills," the 
'■'■ Bens," the ^^ Bobs,'' and the '^ Jacks," etc., from whom he had 
parted just twenty years before ; for m^ost had doubled our age since 
the last meeting, and it must be confessed that, superadded to the 
marks of twenty years time on all, on so7ne, alas ! were the too evi- 
dent ravages of disease and suffering, transforming the glow of youth 
and health into an aspect of feebleness — almost of premature old age ! 
Judge Gibbons was called to the chair, and I. N. Stoddard appointed 
Secretary. The class-roll was then called, and eighteen responded 
to their names, viz : Messrs. Belcher, Dickinson, Gibbons, Haskell, 
Harvey, Hoes, Houston, Hunt, Johnson, Lord, Montague, Morris, 
Perkins, Shurtleff, Stoddard, Wakefield, Wethrell, Wilson, compris- 
ing about tioo-tJiirds of the surviving members of the class. The 
chair called on Rev. O. M. Johnson to lead in prayer, who fervently 
praised the Providence which had sustained the class through so 
many years of toil and trial, and permitted so many to assemble un- 
der so happy auspices, to recount His dealings Avith tllem and theirs. 
The class made a pilgrimage in a body to the Chapel, the Recitation 



rooms, and other familiar and well-remembered haunts in, and about 
the College grounds ; — reminiscences of olden time were recalled, an- 
ecdotes related; but, on their return to the village, the joyous hi- 
larity was dampened, and our feelings saddened, by the intelligence 
of the death, three days previous, of one of our number. Rev. J. A. 
Gary, of Columbus, Ohio. With the exception of the Annual meet- 
ing of, and the Address before the Alumni, on Wednesday, and the 
exercises proper of Commencement day, all the exercises of the week 
were neglected by the class, and every minute of time, from an early 
hour in the morning till a late hour at night, was devoted to the ses- 
sions of the class, at which each member present related his own his- 
tory orally, and communicated to the class all he knew respecting 
that of absent members, and those deceased. Letters, also, received 
from a majority of the absentees, were read to the class, and com- 
ments made. As an interesting feature of the meetings, it may be 
stated, that the wives of hoo classmates present, and other ladies 
who were in former days deemed, in some sense, honorary memhers 
of the class, and who chanced to be in town at the time, were invited 
to be present at our meetings, and contributed, not a little, as may 
be expected, to the enjoyment of all on the occasion. It is to be 
regretted that there were not more classmates' wives in toAvn — there 
probably would have been, were it not for a fear (which, however, 
was groundless,) respecting obtaining accommodations in the then 
crowded state of the village. The following resolution was offered, 
and adopted without count : 

" Resolved, That classmates' wives and daughters be, and hereby 
are, formally elected Honorary Members of the class, and are invited 
to be present at the meetings of the class which it may be permitted, 
under Providence, hereafter to hold." 

Long life and happiness to the Alumnce and Grand- Alumna of 
Amherst College (class, '32) ! 

The class adjourned to the rooms of an artist in the village and 
had their daguerreotype taken {en groupie), to be deposited with 
Z. C. Montague for future reference ; several members, however, had 
copies taken to bear home with them; and the original is now in 
Boston for the purpose of multiplying copies for those who desire 
them. Another series of incidents which increased greatly our enjoy- 
ment, was visiting, on invitation respectively, at the house of each of 



8 

the Professors wlio were in their chairs at the time we were in col- 
lege ; also, on polite invitations, at Uoo of the recent Professors'. 
Miss Harriet Montague (who was now formally elected honorary- 
member) proifered the use of her parlor to the class for all its meet- 
ings on future occasions. 

The class adjourned to meet in the same place in Jive years (Aug., 
1857), to celebrate our quarter-century anniversary; but who, of 
the twenty-nine members now living, will then be alive and here 
present to exchange greetings, is known only to Him who " knoweth 
the end from the beginning !" We are aware that these records will 
possess little of interest to any one aside from the class proper ; but 
whoever, in future years, shall take the pen to add to these personal 
items, will have more material, more noble deeds to recount, more 
distinctions and honors, and, alas ! more scenes of suftering^ more 
deaths to record ! 

To the Class ; — ^to their children and future grand-children, these 
humble efforts of the committee to keep alive in your memories The 
Class of Thirty-txco, are 

AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. 

Amhebst, November- lSo2. 



©1)0 oriass of 1832. 



Note. — "Whenever the expressions "now," or "at the present time," occiir 
in the following statements, they may be understood as meaning the present year 
(1852), and all dates not otherwise specified bear reference to that year. 



If there's a hole in a' your coats, 

I rede ye tent it : 
A chiel 's amang ye takin' notes, 

An' faith he '11 prent it. Burns. 

Adams, William Ward. Born in Leverett, Mass. ; commenced 
the study of medicine in 1833, under the tuition of the late Dr. Grid- 
ley of Amherst; attended medical lectures in Boston and Philadel- 
phia ; received his degree and commenced practice in the state of 
Georgia, teaching a school at the same time ; subsequently removed 
to the state of Arkansas, and immediately entered on an extensive 
and lucrative practice in the city of Little Rock, where he has resided 
to the present time ; is also proprietor of a large drug and apothecary 
store in that place; holds the office of "Register of the U. S. Land 
Office " in that city ; is Presiding Chief of the Encampment of I. O. 
of O. F. in Little Rock, and ex officio Grand Patriarch of that Order 
for the state of Arkansas. Married. Politics, Whig. 

Allek, William. Born at Princeton, Mass., in 1808; after 
graduation, passed one year in the state of Georgia, engaged in teach- 
ing; entered Lane Seminary, Ohio, in 1834; afterwards, employed 
in teaching in Woodford county, Kentucky, a little more than one 
year; returned to New England in 1837, and was licensed to preach 
the gospel same year by the Hampden Association, Mass. ; preached 
one year in Sudbury, Mass., and a year and half in West Attleboro' ; 



10 

ordained and installed pastor of the congregational churcli of Quiney, 
Mass., in January, 1841 ; remained at the last named place until Oc- 
tober, 1849; in August, 1850, removed to West Woodstock, Con- 
necticut, and preached there as a stated supply till October, 1852, 
removed to Lowell, Mass., where he now resides, preaching, as he has 
opportunity, but has no pastoral charge at present ; — was married 
June, 1844, to Miss Rebecca A. Williams of Boston; has no child- 
ren. " As to worldly honors, I am neither borne down, nor lifted 
up by them, having noA^er desired, nor sought them ; the only parch- 
ment I have is that of A. B., and this I have never looked at, so far 
as I recollect, for fifteen years. In regard to ' offices of trust,' I have 
none except that of the ministry, the care of a wife, and a proper dis- 
charge of duties to connexions, friends, acquaintances, and the world. 
As to political preferences, I am not identified with any party now 
existing ; but I am waiting, praying, and preaching, too, for one yet, 
I trust, to be formed, whose principles and acts will not run eoxinter 
to the spirit and principles of the Gospel." 

Belchek, Nathan. Birth-place in Granby, Mass. After grad- 
uation, went to the state of Kentucky as teacher; on the journey, 
was robbed of most of his clothing, and all his money except one red 
cent ; taught school successfully in Lexington and Russellville, Ky., 
a year or more ; returned to New England in 1834, and commenced 
the study of Law in Saybrook, Ct. ; in 1836, attended the Cambridge 
Law School, and was admitted to the bar in the autumn of that year ; 
commenced practice in Clinton, Ct. ; married in 1841 to Ann. Wilson 
of New London, Ct., and soon afterwards engaged in the manu- 
facture of hardware and the foundry business in NeAV London, Avhere 
he at present resides ; has two children, a son and a daughter ; is a 
Democrat in politics; was a member of the Connecticut House of 
Representatives in 1846 and '47, and member of the Senate in 1850 ; 
chosen one of the Electors at Large for the state of Connecticut in 
November, 1852. 

Bell, James. Born in Chester, Mass., in 1805. After gradua- 
tion, taught two years in the department of languages in the Maine 
Wesleyan Seminary, reading law privately a year and a half at same 
time ; continued the study of law under Hon. J. W. Bradbury of 



11 

Augusta, and was admitted to practice in December, 1836, and re- 
moved to Monson, Maine, same month ; has continued the practice 
of the profession at that place to the present time ; and also does 
something at farming; was married in May, 1837, to Charlotte 0. 
Bachelder, of Readfield, Maine; has had four children, three now 
surviving — James Bachelder, 14, Charlotte Ann, 9, and Mary Caro- 
line, 7 years old ; is member of the orthodox congregational church 
at his place of residence ; in politics, " a democrat, but not a rabid 
one ;" has tAvice received the appointment of Attorney General for 
Northern Maine, and held the office in all about five years ; Postmas- 
ter of Monson during Mr. Van Buren's administration ; member of 
the State Senate in 1850 and '51 ; defeated for same office in 1852, 
mainly for his support of the present temperance law ; possesses the 
rare reputation of being an honest lawyer, and no one who knows 
him ever thinks of retaining him, if he has a rotten case. Contem- 
plates removing, in a short time, to the city of Augusta, to pursue the 
practice of law. 

Caky, Josiah Addison'. Was married at Richmond, Va., Octo- 
ber, 1844, to Gertrude Jenkins of Hudson, N. Y., leaving at his death 
two children, a son and a daughter — Mary Alice, six years, and Nor- 
man White, three years old. The following notice, from the New 
York Observer of August 26, contains the prominent incidents of his 
history and death. 

" Died, at Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday morning, the 7th instant. 
Rev. J. Addison Cary, Superintendent of the Ohio Asylum for the 
Deaf and Dumb, aged 89 years. 

" The subject of this obituary was born at West Brookfield, Mass., 
on the 29th day of March, 1813. He early evinced a taste for study 
and mental improvement, commencing the study of Latin at the age 
of eight years. Entering Amherst College, he was graduated when 
but nineteen years old, ranking among the first scholars of his class. 
Immediately after graduating, he was appointed an instructor in the 
New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and continued in that 
capacity for a period of nineteen years. Soon after his connection 
with the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, he com- 
menced the study of Theology at the Union Theological Seminary of 
New York — and in addition to a faithful discharge of his daily duties 



12 

as an instructor of the Deaf and Dumb, he kept pace with his class in 
the regular studies of the Seminary. In 1839 he was licensed by the 
Third Presbytery of New York, and in 1844 was ordained by the 
same body as an evangelist. He preached as opportunity offered 
itself until 1850, when he was chosen pastor of the West Dutch Re- 
formed Church of New York. He relinquished the pastorate in 1851 
on account of ill-health. Without any personal solicitation, either of 
himself or that of his friends, he was appointed Siiperintendent of the 
Ohio Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, and in October, 1851, entered 
upon his duties, which he discharged honorably to himself, and use- 
fully to the Asylum, until called to the spirit land. 

" When it was announced to him that it was the opinion of his 
physician that he could not tarry long on earth, he listened with 
composure ; and with that coolness, calmness and serenity, which so 
eminently characterized him in health, he reviewed the actions and 
motives of his life, counseled his family, and engaged in appropriate 
religious exercises. His mind seemed to increase in activity and 
clearness to the last moment, and he died giving the most satisfac- 
tory testimony to the sustaining power of the religion of our Saviour. 
' Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.' " 

It may be added, that the tidings of his death reached the class 
just as they were assembling at their late " Vigintal Festival" ; and 
the next mail brought a letter, written hy Ms oivn hand from his 
death^ied (which had been mis-sent and forwarded) ; it was address- 
ed to his classmates. He thus salutes, and takes leave of them at 
the same time : 

" My dear, dear classmates : 

" How can I deny myself the pleasure of meeting you at this fes- 
tival ! In imagination I see you all as you were twenty years ago, — 
and yet, I know you must have changed. Give me your hand, each, 
and all; I will give it a hearty shake. I am tempted to call some of 
you by name. You were my favorites, but now I meet you all as 
brethren. I would press you all to my heart. All ? Ah, no ! Some 
of you are with the silent dead ! The Lord prepare us all in his own 
time, for a happy transit from earth to Heaven ! Accept my assur- 
ances of fraternal affection for the Class of thirty-two. Dear class- 
mates, Farewell !" 



13 

" P. S. I hope a record of the meeting may be published for the 
use of the members. I very much desire to preserve a copy. 

"J. A. C." 

The following minute and resolutions, in view of this event, were 
adopted by the class, and a copy transmitted to the widow and friends 
of the deceased. 

" The Committee appointed to prepare a minute expressive of the 
feelings of the surviving members of the class of 1832, awakened by 
the intelligence of the recent death of their beloved classmate and 
brother, Gary, submit the following: 

Resolved, That we have heard with feelings of profound sorrow of 
the decease of our classmate and brother, J. Addison Gary, who de- 
parted this life on Saturday morning last, the 7th instant. 

Resolved, That the assembled members of the class recall with 
deep interest the purity of his christian character, his affectionate dis- 
position, his diligence as a student, and rejoice to learn that the 
promise of his early life has been fully confirmed by the usefulness 
of his subsequent course, especially in connection with institutions 
devoted to the education of tne deaf and dumb. 

Resolved, That the intelligence of his death, received as the class 
were assembling, comes to us as the solemn voice of Providence, 
reminding us of the uncertainty of life, and of the unspeakable wis- 
dom of a constant readiness for that great change towards which we 
are all advancing. 

Resolved, That his surviving classmates sympathize truly and 
deeply with his bereaved family in their afliiction, and trust they 
may find in the result, that in love and mercy their Heavenly Father 
hath afflicted them. 

O. M. JOHNSON, ) 

SAMUEL HUNT, \ Gommittee. 

Z. G. MONTAGUE, j 

Amherst, August 12th, 1852. 

Ghapmak, Mahlon Pomkoy, Born at Southampton, Mass., in 
1807 ; was associated for some time with classmate Hunt as teacher 
in his native town ; commenced the study of Theology in Andover 
Seminary, and died there, of typhus fever, September 1, 1835, at 



14 

about the beginning of the second year of his course, at the age of 
twenty-eight years. 

CiAPP, Chakles, was never married. The following obituary, 
and biographical notice, cut from the " Amherst Express " of that 
period, will best tell the history and fate of this member. 

"Died at sea, off the Fortress of Gibraltar, February 26th, 1849, 
Mr. Charles Clapp of Quincy, aged thirty-eight years ; a graduate of 
Amherst College, in the class of 1832. 

" Though the news of Mr. Clapp's death reached his friends at 
Quincy in about a month after his decease, it has never, we believe, 
found its way into any of the newspapers in this vicinity. But a few 
weeks have passed since we learned that he was no more ; as he was 
for several years a resident of this village, we think that a short 
sketch of his life, and the particulars of his death, will not be unin- 
teresting to many in this vicinity. 

" Charles Clapp, the third son of Salmon and Elenor Clapp of 
Braintree, Avas born January 28, 1811. In the autumn of 1828, he 
entered Amherst College, and graduatediin 1832, at the age of twen- 
ty-one, with the highest honors of his class. After his graduation, 
he was employed as a teacher at Dorchester, while at the same time 
he was reading law with Hon. Samuel P. Loud of that place. In 
1834, he was appointed Tutor in Amherst College, where he remained 
one year. He subsequently received and accepted the appointment 
of Professor of English Literature in the Albany Academy, N. Y. 
Aftervv^ards he travelled in the western states, and was for some time 
editor of the Peoria Beacon, published at Hillsboro', 111. Returning 
again to his native state, he edited the Quincy Aurora. 

" By education and natural talents fitted for great usefulness, Mr, 
Clapp was compelled by an inscrutable Providence to see his plans of 
life interrupted, and the sphere of his usefulness circumscribed, by the 
variable state of his health. Sickness had thrown her mantle around 
him, and shaded the prospects of his early life ; yet he bore it with 
patience and fortitude. 

*' Having derived apparent benefit, the season previous, from a fish- 
ing excursion of five or six weeks, he embarked for Italy in the hope 
that the sea-voyage, with a short residence in that salubrious clime, 
would restore him to his former health. But it was otherwise deter- 



15 

mined. From the time he sailed, he continued to decline. He, how- 
ever, reached the port of his destination, and started on his return. 
But he was destined never again to set foot on his native shores. 
The disease (consumption) against which he had struggled for many- 
years, had become firmly seated, and his exhausted frame soon yield- 
ed up its spirit to God who gave it, while its own clay tenement was 
consigned to the watery element which had borne him thither. 

" Says a writer in the Quincy Patriot : ' Mr. Clapp was exten- 
sively known in this town, and known only to be respected and 
loved. His strict integrity, his well-balanced mind, his suavity of 
manners, his feeling heart and kind disposition, won for him the 
esteem of many friends, in whose hearts his memory Avill be cherished 
as a sacred trust. The feeble state of his health when he left us, in 
some degree had prepared our minds for the sad intelligence which 
has reached us ; still, when the news was received that Ave should see 
his face no more, it seemed hard to sunder the ties which had bound 
him to us. Memory, like a weeping mourner, goes to seek his grave 
in the lonely depths of the ocean ; but hope, with prophetic finger, 
points to the shores of a blissful immortality — tells us he is there.' 

* We know that the bowers are greew and fail". 
In the Hght of that summer shore ; 
And we know that the friends we have lost are there — 
They are there, and they weep no more.* 

"L. M- B." 

DTCKixso>r, Ekastus. Born in Plainfield, Mass., in 1808 ; stud- 
ied Theology at Auburn Seminary, and also ten months with Rev. 
Dr. Packard, Shelburne ; married in 1835 to Maria Bowen, who died 
in 1850; married in 1851 to Lois Ames; has one child, a daughter, 
sixteen years of age ; preached at Canton, Mass., from September, 
'35 to June, '37; installed pastor of the congregational church in 
Chaplin, Ct., October, '37; dismissed January, 1849 ; preached again 
in Canton, but declined a call to settle ; preached at Marshfield, 
Mass., one year, but declined a call to a settlement ; preached in 
Brooklyn, New York, one year, after which, accepted a call from the 
first church in Colchester, Ct., over which he was installed pastor, in 
October, 1851, where he still resides. Not a sabbath has passed 
since he was licensed to preach, that he has not had employment, and 



16 

only two sabbaths in the seventeen years of his licentiate, that he was 
unable to preach : has never preached as a candidate in any place 
where he has not received a call to settle. 

FoKSYTH, "William Wallace. Born in Albany, N. Y., in 
1813 ; after graduation, read law in Albany, and Avas admitted as 
counsellor in 1836; practiced law until obliged by the state of his 
health to exchange that profession for one less sedentary ; then en- 
tered the mercantile business in the same city, in which business he 
continues to the present time ; has travelled somewhat extensively in 
Europe; married, September, 1836, to Cordelia Kane Strong of 
Albany ; has four children, viz., Emily Howe, fourteen years, Sarah, 
twelve years, Russell, ten years, and William Douglas, five years old ; 
is not a professor of religion, but regularly attends, with his family, 
the ministrations of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In politics, a 
democrat ; was member of the common council of the city of Albany 
during the years 1843 and 1847 ; in 1850 was appointed by the city 
authorities a trustee of the sinking fund of the city, and has held the 
office to the present time; in 1848, appointed one of the Inspectors 
of the Albany county penitentiary, and reappointed for three years in 
1850 ; is a director in one of the city banks ; also, director in one of 
the railroad companies ; one of the trustees of the Albany Medical 
College ; also, a trustee of the University of Albany ; also, member 
for Albany of the legislature of New York in 1852-'3. 

" In connexion with my past history, I can dwell on no daring ad- 
ventures, or imminent escapes. Though I have seen sopae of the 
fairest portions of Europe, I have thus far kept away from Australia 
and California. As I have always entertained less veneration for 
Mars than most people, I never expect to wear the uniform of colo- 
nel, much less that of major-general. I have not, however, been in- 
different to politics, though I never set out to be a politician ; you 
will not be surprised, then, when I tell you that I have visited Wash- 
ington only on private business, and that the only seat I have hith- 
erto occupied in our own state legislature has been that of a lobbif 
memier, which enables me to acquire considerable experience in the 
mysteries of legislation. But, as I am in duty bound to make as 
much of a show as I can in the political field wherein so many are at 
work, I would say that, within the last ten years, I have on several 



17 

occasions held, and now hold, offices under the city and county of 
Albany^ which, while requiring labor, have afforded no pay. I have 
voyaged prosperously, I may say, thus far in life, enjoying a pleasing 
landscape. I strive to render myself useful as a citizen to the extent 
of my poor abilities. I have no ' future plans,' other than those I am 
pursuing. The future I must leave with him who ' doeth all things 
aright.' That the members of my class have prospered, and may 
continue to prosper in their ' varied walks in life,' is the fervent wish 
of my heart." \_Letter, July, 20.] 

Gibbons, Lymaij. Born in Westerlo, Albany county, N. Y., 
in 1808 ; taught an academy in Chelsea, Vt., about six months ; then 
commenced the study of law with Judge Collamer of Royalton, Vt., 
in 1833, remaining with him about three months; then went to Mo- 
bile, Ala., and engaged in teaching, continuing at same time his legal 
studies; was admitted to practice in Mobile in 1834; commenced 
praictice in the spring of 1835, in Claiborne, Ala.; continued there 
about two years; in 1837, relinquished his country-practice entirely, 
returned to Mobile, and confined himself to city-practice and the 
supreme court of the state at the seat of government; in 1845, spent 
nearly two years in France, for the purpose of studying civil law and 
perfecting himself in the French language ; then passed about six 
months more in visiting other countries of Europe, and returned to 
the United States in the autumn of 1847; removed to New Orleans 
and engaged in practice, but not liking the place for a residence, 
returned to Mobile in 1849, Avhere he still resides; in 1851, received 
the appointment of Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of the state of 
Alabama, which office he still holds ; permanent residence. Mobile ; 
is not connected with any church — favors the orthodox denominations 
(Presbyterian, or Congregational) ; in politics, a "Democrat, and al- 
ways has been." " As to my future plans, I cannot say that I have 
any, except to do my duty as a man and a citizen in all the situations 
I may be called upon to fill. I have no other ambition or aspirations 
of any kind. As my profession is the law, I, of course, wish to rank 
high in it, and neither look for, nor expect any distinction out of it. 
I labor in that, because it is my vocation, and I am content and happy 
in doing so. I despise pettifogging, and have always endeavored to 
practice my profession as a science rather than as a source of gain. 
3 



18 

I, of course, live, and have always done so, by my profession, but I 
would not sacrifice a principle for money. "••' [^Letter, Nov. 18.] 

Hall, William. It is to be regretted that so little information 
of a reliable character can be obtained respecting this classmate. All 
that can now be ascertained is, that he was engaged for some time as 
a teacher at the West, and on his route either to~ or from his place of 
residence, died of sviall pox in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1837, leaving a 
widow, who subsequently was married again. 

Hardy, Seth. Birth-place, Bradford, Mass. ; pursued a three 
years' course of theology at Andover ; while there, was prostrated by 
the typhus fever, in 1835 — the same that carried off classmates Chap- 
man and Wood ; on recovery, went to Kennebeck county, Maine, 
where he labored three years as a missionary, and two years as a set- 
tled pastor; removed to Michigan in 1840, where he still resides 
(Vermontville, Eaton county) ; was married at Romeo, Mich., to 
Miss Cordelia Dickinson, youngest daughter of the late Ezekiel Dick- 
inson of Amherst, Mass. ; has had four children, one only now sur- 
viving — a daughter of three and a half years. " Notwithstanding my 
weakness and unworthiness, under God a degree of success has 
seemed to attend my labors. From time to time it has been my 
privilege to direct inquiring souls to the blessed and compassionate 
Saviour. I have labored in several places ; at present am located in 
the midst of a kind people — most of them from the New England 
States, principally from Vermont, as the name of our town indicates. 
I love the duties of my calling, and so long as God shall be pleased 
to give me life and strength, I expect to spend and be spent in the 
cause of my Divine Master," 

Hakvey, ADiEii. Baptist clergyman ; settled sometime in West- 
boro', now in Plyrnouth, Mass. 

Note. — From some unaccountable cause, the reply of this brother 
has not been received. If it should come in hereafter, it will be 
found at the end of the list. 

* Note. — By a commission from the Governor, under date of December Tth, 
Judge Gibbons has been advanced to the Bench of the Supreme Court, the 
highest court in the state, to fill a vacancy occasioned by a late resignation. — Ed^ 



19 

Haskell, Bexjamix. Born in Gloucester, Mass., in 1810 ; com- 
menced the study of medicine under a private physician, afterwards 
pursued it in Boston, Bowdoin College, and in Chelsea Hospital; 
received the degree of M. D. at Bowdoin College in 1837 ; was suc- 
cessor to classmate Rowland, as assistant physician in the McLean 
Asylum, about one year ; first established in practice in South Bos- 
ton ; removed to Rockport in February, 1839, where he still resides, 
in the practice of his profession; was married in December, 1839, to 
Mary Jane Calef, of Andover, N. H. ; has no surviving children ; is 
not a member of any church ; attends regularly the orthodox congre- 
gational church. " As to politics, I have always been Whig, and 
shall adhere to that party which, in spirit and action, as well as in 
words, supports the Constitution and the Union. I have never taken 
a very active part in politics ; have always eschewed offices and hon- 
ors, and the only ecclesiastical distinction I ever received, was when 
an old Quaker mistook me for a minister ! '^' My life has been one 
of pretty uniform tenor, like that of all physicians in country practice, 
subject to periods of fatiguing labor and anxiety ; but, on the whole, 
I hope it has not been a useless one in a humble way. As yet, I 
have done nothing for fame, and ?ii forty -txoo, if a man has not placed 
his mark on the age, there is little probability of his doing it after- 
wards." 

HiTCHixGS, Benjamin Gardner. Lawyer, in high standing 
and extensive practice in New York City. Married. — Residence, 
Brooklyn. 

Hoes, John Cantine Farrel, (Nephew of ex-President Van 
Buren.) Born in Middleburgh, Scoharrie county, N. Y., in 1811; 
studied theology at Princeton, N. J. ; licensed to preach the gospel 
by the Presbytery of New Brunswick in 1834; called to the pas- 
torate of the Dutch church of Clover Hill, N. J., but declined; or- 
dained to the work of the ministry, and installed pastor of the Re- 
formed Dutch church in Chittenango, N. Y., by the Classis of Cay- 
uga, in 1836; remained there a little over a year; then was installed 
p> ..v^ oi ail. uL-iunu- u. . ciiuch at Ithaca, N. Y., in 1837; con- 



20 

tinuing there until in September, 1845, lie was called to the pastorate 
of the Reformed Dutch church of Kingston, Ulster county, N. Y,, 
where he still resides. The honorary degree of £>. D. was conferred 
on him by Union College at the Commencement in July, 1852 ; mar- 
ried to Lucy Maria Randall, of Cortlandt Village, N. Y., in Septem- 
ber, 1836 ; has had Jive children, /bwr surviving — the eldest a daugh- 
ter of thirteen years, and the youngest a son of two and a half years. 
" As a minister of the gospel, I meddle not with party politics ; my 
preferences, however, are for the democratic party, and when I have 
voted (which has been seldom), it has been for the candidates of their 
nomination. Providence has greatly smiled upon and blessed me. 
The path of life has been smooth and pleasant, and happily exempt 
from many of those trials which men of my profession are not unfre- 
quently called to experience. Having devoted myself to the work of 
preaching the gospel, it is my intention and des-ire, with the leave of 
Providence, to continue therein, and labor to promote the kingdoni 
and glory of Christ by advancing the distinct interests of the Protes- 
tant Reformed Dutch Church of North America." 

Hopkins, Samuel Mixo. Born in Geneseo, Livingston county, 
N. Y., in 1814; declined the offer of a tutorship in Ahna Mater, 
and accepted a similar offer from Geneva College in 1833-'34; pur- 
sued the study of theology in the Princeton, and Auburn Seminaries, 
from 1834 to 1837 ; entered the ministry in 1839, and became pastor 
of the Presbyterian church in Corning, Steuben county, N. Y. ; in 
1841, accepted a call to the Presbyterian church in Fredonia, N. Y., 
from which, in 1844, he removed to the charge of the Presbyterian 
church in Avon, Livingston county, N. Y., and from thence was 
called to the chair of " Ecclesiastical History and Church Polity," in 
Auburn Theological Seminary, where he still remains ; was married 
in May, 1839, to Mary Jane Hanson, daughter of R. B. Heacock, 
Esq., of Buffalo ; has six children, all surviving : — Stephen Grosve- 
nor, thirteen years, Abby Elizabeth, eleven, Mark, eight, Hester Rose, 
five, Woolsey Rogers, four, and John Melancthon, an infant of six 
months. " I have been greatly favored generally in respect to my 
own health and that of my family. Goodness and mercy have fol- 
loAved me all the days of my life. I have been led by a most kind 
Providence from step to step in a way that I knew not, my ' strength 



21 

having been as my da)'.' It is with a full heart that I can say — Hith- 
erto the Lord hath helped me ! My trust is firm in the same good 
Providence, the same abounding Grace, to guide me and keep me 
safely to the end. Through the riches of that Grace in Christ Jesus, 
I confidently hope to meet many of my dear classmates, vs^ashed and 
justified and sanctified, in that Home of unfading blessedness for 
which as strangers and pilgrirns we here sigh. Should I live to wit- 
ness the return of the twenty-fifth anniversary of our graduation, it 
will be only an obstacle of the most serious character that will keep 
me from attending. 

" As to ' political preferences,' I am not quite prepared to say of 
the ' two parties' what Falstaff" said of them — ' The Devil take one 
party and his dam the other — so shall they be well bestowed.' I 
have too little love for either to identify myself with it. I have riever 
voted any other than a whig ticket, seldom that without ' scratching.' 
But I am quite resigned to see the whig party, with its Baltimore 
platform, ' knocked into flinders.' I hope to live to cast in my vote 
with a great Northern, Union, Free-trade, Free-soil, Progressive, 
Anti-Filibuster party, combining the best elements of the Whig, 
Democratic, and Abolition parties. I rejoice in no titles, emolu- 
ments, or honors, whatever, — yet, as every respectable clergyman 
now-a-days, is bound to apologize for not being a Doctor of Divinity, 
I may be permitted to say that I declined the degree of D. D. offered 
me by Hamilton College at its last anniversary." 

Houston, John Fkederick. Born in Columbia, Pa. ; taught 
an academy at Newark, Del., one year; in the autumn of 1833, 
joined the corps of engineers in the service of the state of Pennsyl- 
vania, and pursued that employment, with the most satisfactory and 
flattering success, until 1843, when he was admitted to the bar, and 
has ever since been successfully engaged in the practice of law at 
Columbia, Lancaster county, Pa. ; married to Catherine J. Fisher, of 
Dauphin county, Pa., in 1835 ; has had six children, three only now 
living — Georgiana, in her sixteenth year, William, fourteen, and 
Amy, ten years ; is a member, and an elder, of the Presbyterian 
church. 

On the 15th May, 1849, suffered an attack oi paralysis, and has 
but partial use of the motory organs of the left system, but is able to 



22 

read, write, and gets about, in pleasant weather, with the aid of a 
cane, and maintains his character for great usefulness as a citizen. 
In a letter, February 13th, he says : 

" But while others may have greener laurels to lay at the feet of 
our Alma Mater, I will yield to none in affectionate interest in her 
prosperity, and I can most truly say that in turning my back, as I 
hope I have done, to the temptations of worldly ambition, the only 
regret which caused a single pang was that 1 had not done anything 
to illustrate the reputation of Amherst College in my native state." 

Hunt, Samuel. Born in Attleboro', Mass., in 1810; was a 
teacher one year in Southampton, Mass., and three years in South- 
ampton, L. I ; studied theology at Princeton Seminary ; was licensed 
to preach in 1838, and ordained and settled at Natick, Mass., in July, 
1839, where he resided until June, 1850, was installed pastor of the 
church in Franklin, Mass., where he still resides ; married in October, 
1838, to Mary Foster of Southampton, L. I., who died December, 
1849; has had^we children, four now living — the eldest, a daughter 
of thirteen years, and the youngest, a son of five. " My sympathies 
and action are with the Free-Soil party. In relation to 'past and 
present prosperity and plans for the future,' I have nothing of special 
interest to add. Indeed, my life has been peculiarly free from inci- 
dent, except those most painful incidents, the sickness and death of 
my wife and child. I have pursued the ' even and noiseless tenor of 
my way,' always having more to do than I have done faithfully, and 
being much more prosperous than I ever deserved, or expected to be. 
And as the past has been, so, for aught I see to the contrary, I may, 
at least for a while, expect the future to be." 

Johnson, Obadiah Meekek. Born in NeAV Jersey, in 1806; 
after graduation, took charge of a private school in Newark, studying 
theology at same time one year; went to Princeton Seminary until 
1835, sailed for Bio (South America) in service of Seamen's Friend 
Society; arrived at Bio in January, 1836 ; returned to New York in 
July following ; married in August, 1836, to Sarah Elizabeth Beach, 
of Newark ; December following, sailed again for Bio ; was recalled 

W'^'^'-v ii.— *i.j( ». J -". > ^--w-«u „i _.w»»' _j.wi... ;^oa, Ui.^i,.ln^ couuty, 



23 

N. Y., In October, 1839, and has remained there to the present time. 
No children now remaining. 

Jones, Pekley Chaxdler. Born in Chelsea, Orange county, 
Vermont, in 1812; studied law in Chelsea; and admitted to practice 
in 1835; and continued practice till 1850; was clerk of the courts of 
Orange county several years ; represented the town of Chelsea two 
years in the legislature; left the profession of law in 1850, and en- 
gaged in mercantile business in Chelsea, in which he is still prosper- 
ously engaged; married in January, 1840, to Fanny A. Wales, 
daughter of Hon. Geo. E. Wales of Hartford, Vt. ; has tivo children 
— a son of eleven years, and a daughter of nine ; is not a member of 
any church. " My health for the last twenty years has been good ; 
and forty years of age finds me a hearty, robust man, two hundred 
pounds in weight, a slight sprinkling of grey hairs on my head, a 
clear conscience and at peace with all the world. I know nothing 
that would give me greater pleasure than to meet once more my old 
friends and classmates, take them by the hand, and learn from their 
own lips how the world has used them since we parted ; but as I am 
deprived of this privilege, I wish you to convey to them my kindest 
regards and best wishes, and accept, &-c." [_Lett€r, August 9th.] 

Lord, Otis Phillips. Born in Ipswich, Mass., in 1812 ; read 
law one year in office of Judge Morris, Springfield, then went to the 
Cambridge Law School; admitted to the bar in December, 1835; 
married in 1843 to Elizabeth W. Farley of Ipswich; resided in Ips- 
wich until in November, 1844, removed to Salem, and has remained 
there to the present time ; has been justice of the peace ; was in the 
Massachusetts House of Reiiresentatives in 1847, '48, and aided sig- 
nally, in conjunction with other classmates, in procuring the passage 
of the act giving the state bounty to Alma Mater, in 1847; member 
of the State Senate in 1849; again a representative in 1851; also, 
elected to the House of Representatives again in November, 1852. 
No children living. Politics, Whig. 

Montague, Zebina Clixtox. 

'T were idle to remember now, 
Had I the heart, my thwarted schemes. 



24 

I bear beneath this alter' d brow 
The ashes of a thousand dreams — 

Some wrought of wild Ambition's fingers, 
Some color'd of Love's pencil well — 

But none of which a shadow lingers, 
And none whose story I coiild tell. 



Willis. 



Born in Amherst ; soon after graduation went to Knoxville, Tenn., 
to take the situation of " Rector of Hampden Sidney Academy," in 
that place; remained there until the spring of 1833, went to Colum- 
bus, Ga., and engaged in mercantile pursuits, with intervals of giving 
instruction as private tutor, until early in 1837, accepted an office of 
great labor and responsibility in the " Bank of Columbus ;" saw 
some service in the war with the Creek Indians in 1835-'36 ; passed 
the summer of '36 in the city of New York as salesman in a whole- 
sale dry goods store; returned to Georgia the winter following, to 
take the situation in bank above referred to ; remained there until on 
the 24th April, 1839, in consequence of over-exertion in bank duties, 
and a chronic bilious affection, became paralyzed ; returned to Am- 
herst in November, 1839, and still resides there; by the generous 
aid of classmates, was enabled to be under treatment for several weeks 
at the Round Hill Water Cure, Northampton, in 1848, and received 
permanent benefit, and has been able ever since (in pleasant weather, 
in summer time,) to get around, by the aid of a cane ; employed oc- 
casionally in giving instruction in the languages to young persons ; 
amuses himself sometimes by contributing to the papers under the 
nom- de-plume " Bace. Antiq., Jr." ; member of the First Congrega- 
tional Church, Amherst ; unmarried ; bears the burden of no honors 
or offices, nor ever has, greater than that of first lieutenant of a vol- 
unteer military company, captain (by brevet), major (by courtesy). 
Politics, Whig, decidedly, and without " scratching." 

MoKG^N, John. Born in Aurora, Cayuga county, N. Y., in 1812 ; 
read law under the tuition of his brother, Hon. Christopher Morgan, 
but owing to feeble health, never commenced the practice of the pro- 
fession ; built a dwelling and resided on a farm near the village of 
Aurora; married in 1836 to a Miss Brownell of Aurora; had one 
child, who survived its father only one year. The following extract 



25 

from a letter received from his brother Richard, in 1848, gives the 
remainder of his story : 

" Johii was regarded by all as an honest, upright and ardent Chris- 
tian ; being lame and unfitted for labor, he spent much of his time, 
and all his talents, in furthering the Christian cause ; he was a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church. In the autumn of 1840, in company 
with his wife, he visited New England on a trip of pleasure, more 
particularly to visit Amherst, but while at Springfield, he had an at- 
tack of ' bleeding at the lungs,' and he did not visit Amherst. He 
returned home immediately, and was confined to his bed with fre- 
quent attacks of ' bleeding,' and finally expired with consumption on 
the tenth day of February, 1841. He died as he lived, a Christian ; 
he never complained of his sufferings, never expressed a wish that his 
life might be prolonged, but submitted to what might come with 
great patience. John was pleasantly situated while living, his father 
having left him an amount of property which supported him without 
the necessity of laboring, which his health would not admit of. John 
was warmly attached to his friends, and I have many a time listened 
to his yarns about what had taken place among his friends at Am- 
herst ; he had an Album, in the front of which was a catalogue of the 
students at Amherst, where he kept a record of their marriages and 
deaths as he became acquainted with the facts. It is a pleasure to 
his mother and brothers to have his old friends make enquiries after 
him, although it is with a sad heart that we are obliged to say, that 
death has taken a much loved brother from us." 

Morris, Henry. Born in Springfield, Mass., in 1814; studied 
law in the office of his father, Hon. O. B. Morris, three years from 
September, 1832, including two terms of lectures at the Cambridge 
Law School; admitted to the bar in 1835, and has resided at Spring- 
field ever since, in the practice of his profession ; was one of the rep- 
resentatives from Springfield in the state legislature, in the years 
1846 and '47, and did good service, in connection with classmates 
Perkins and Lord (who were members, at the same time, respectively 
of the Senate and House), in obtaining the passage of the act giving 
the bounty of the state in answer to the petition of the Trustees of 
Amherst College, in the year last named ; upon the organization of 
Springfield as a city, in 1852, he was chosen a member of the com- 



26 

mon council, and suTjsequently elected the first president of that 
body ; was married, in 1837, to Mary Warriner of Springfield; has 
had six children, five now livingir-Mary Warriner, thirteen years, 
Edward, eleven, Charles Henry, six, and Frederick William and Wil- 
liam Frederick (twins), in their third year ; "a Whig in politics, but 
not an active politician ;" is member of the First Congregational 
Church in Springfield. " My life has been barren of incident, except 
professional incident, which should have no place in our sketch, un- 
less very remarkable." 

Newcomb, Geoege. But little information of a reliable charac- 
ter can be obtained of this member. Birth-place, Braintree, Mass. ; 
attended medical lectures in Boston, and received the degree of M.D. 
from Harvard College in 1835; passed some time in Illinois, and suf- 
fered much from sickness while there ; returned to New England and 
married a Miss Packard of Quincy, Mass. ; has had two children, one 
only now surviving, a daughter of fifteen years, who, it is said, has 
been distinguished from early childhood for amiability and intelli- 
gence to a remarkable degree, and promises to become equally so in 
intellect and accomplishments ; has never regularly practiced his pro- 
fession ; residence at the present time, Braintree, Mass. ; employment j 
principally farming and quarrying granite. 

Paine, Stephen Ateins. Birth-place, Provincetown, Mass. ; 
studied medicine in Boston, and received his medical diploma from 
Harvard College in 1835; soon afterwards established himself in 
practice in Orono, Maine, but on account of the general bankruptcy 
in that region at the subsidence of the land speculation, retxtrned ta 
Provincetown and engaged in a successful practice, and remains there 
to the present time ; has twice represented that to'vvn in the state 
legislature ; married ; politics, Whig. 

Patxerson, William Halsted (son of the late Rev. Dr. Pat- 
terson of Philadelphia). Born in Newark, N. J., in 1813 ; pursued 
the study of medicine under Dr. Henry Neill, of Philadelphia ; re- 
ceived his degree of M. D. at the University of Pennsylvania, in 
March, 1835, and in May following, sailed for Buenos Ayres (S. A.), 
where he was engaged in the practice of his profession with great sue- 



27 

cess for about one year, but died suddenly, of inflammation of the 
brain, on the 5th of July, 1836, at the early age of twenty-two and a 
half years ; not a professor of religion. No relation, nor any special 
friend, was at hand to aid or comfort him in his last hours. He died 
and was buried among strangers ! Patterson was distinguished in 
college for uniform good feeling, gentlemanly bearing, great urbanity 
of deportment, great ease of address, and remarkable conversational 
powers. 

Perkins, Jonathak Cogswell. Born in Essex, Mass. ; read 
law in the office of Rufus Choate one year and a half, then went to 
Cambridge Law School ; then, in 1835, to the office of fion. Leverett 
Saltonstall; Avas admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1835; was 
married in 1837 to Caroline S. Burgess, who died March 1st, 1838 ; 
married in March, 1840, to Elizabeth Grafton Brookhouse ; has had 
four children ; eldest daughter and the only son are deceased ; two 
children now survive ; was a member of the House of Representatives 
in 1845 and '46, and of the Senate in 1847 and '48, and as chairman 
of the committee on the part of the Senate, to whom was referred the 
petition of Amherst College, was mainly instrumental, by his admir- 
able Report on the subject, in procuring the state bounty to the col- 
lege, in 1847; has been considerably employed as editor of English 
law books and reports, republished in this country, and his works 
bear a high reputation among members of the bar generally ; in 1848 
Avas elected by the legislature Trustee of Amherst College in the 
place of Governor Armstrong, deceased; elected, also, in '48, a Judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas, which office, although an increase of 
honor, was a loss pecuniarily, the salary of a Judge not equalling the 
income from his law practice and duties as law editor ; still sustains 
the office of Judge ; residence, Salem, Mass. ; politics. Whig. 

Rowland, Edwakd. Born in Windsor, Ct., in 1809; studied 
medicine and received his medical diploma at Yale College in 1837; 
assistant physician in McLean Asylum, Charlestown, Mass. ; removed 
to Ohio ; married in 1842 to Elizabeth Avery of Delavan, Ohio ; died 
of fever in Sunbury, Ohio, August 1st, 1845, leaving one child, who 
is noAV living, and nine years of age. A mutual acquaintance, in a 



28 

recent communication, gives the following interesting items of infor- 
mation : 

" He was a member of a Presbyterian church, and died with a 
christian's hope. At the time of his death he had a very extensive 
practice, and left a large circle of friends to mourn his loss." 

We may add also, that Rowland was very popular in the class, — 
sincerely beloved by all. Not one could have died more generally 
regretted, more sincerely mourned. 

Seakl, Iskaei, Watson. Born in Southampton, Mass., in 1810 ; 
impelled by a desire to impart christian instruction to the natives of 
that dark lanH, went as a volunteer missionary to Africa, and died of 
the country fever, at Liberia, October 18, 1834, a little more than 
two months after his arrival in the country, at the age of twenty-four 
years. With the exception of the tidings of his death, his surviving 
friends in this country heard little or nothing of him after he left 
America. 

Shuktleff, Simeon. Born in Montgomery, Mass., in 1808; 
soon after leaving college, commenced the study of medicine under 
the direction of Professors, Childs and Porter, at the Berkshire Medi- 
cal Institution, Pittsfield, Mass. ; received his medical degree at same 
institution, December, 1835, and immediately commenced practice in 
Simsbury, Ct. ; married Mary Ann Phelps of Simsbury, January, 
1837 ; has no children; both are members of an orthodox congrega- 
tional church; removed to Westfield, Mass., December, 1841, where 
he still resides, in the practice of his profession ; he has been uni- 
formly successful in his profession, and has the reputation of great 
skill as a physician, and is much wedded to his profession, but at in- 
tervals of professional duty, has pursued to considerable extent all 
the various departments of natural science, as Avell for recreation 
and pastime, as for love of science ; in all which departments he 
has attained to considerable eminence, particularly in those of Orni- 
thology and Conchology ; a large proportion of the birds in the Zoo- 
logical Cabinet of Amherst College were furnished by him ; politics 
(when he expresses an opinion). Whig. 

Stoddaed, Isaac Nelson. Born in Upton, Mass., in 1812; 



29 

after graduation, taught a high school in the following places respect- 
ively, until April, 1835, viz: in Medway, New Bedford, and Plym- 
outh, Mass. ; appointed by President Harrison collector of the cus- 
toms for the district of Plymouth, which office he held until April, 
1845, received the appointment of Cashier of the Plymouth Bank? 
which office he holds at the present time. Married in March, 1836, 
to Martha Le Baron Thomas, of Plymouth ; has had eight children, 
six now living — John Thomas, in his 15th year, Charles Brigham, in 
eleventh, Francis Russell, in 9th, William Prescott, in his seventh, 
Mary, in her fifth, and Martha, in her third year. Member of the 
congregational church in Plymouth, under the pastoral charge of Rev. 
Dr. Kendall ; politics, " National Republican and Whig." 

Wakefield, Hobace Pool. Born in Reading, Mass., January 
4, 1 809 ; after trying both law and theology, selected the profession 
of medicine, and studied at Reading, and at Hanover, N. H., under 
the tuition of Dr. R. D. Mussey ; received the degree of M. D., at 
Dartmouth College, in 1836 ; commenced practice at Oakham, Mass., 
in November, 1836; continued there until May, 1844, when he re- 
moved to Reading, where he has remained in practice to the present 
time; was married in March, 1838, to Abagail Pratt, of Reading; 
has had three children, one only now living — Alice, in her thirteenth 
year; wife died August 13, 1850; second marriage, to Miss Mary 
B. Cristy, November 28, 1851; is a "member of the democratic 
party;" represented the town of Oakham in the legislature in 1843 
and '44; has been a counsellor of the Massachusetts Medical Society; 
president of the Middlesex East District Medical Society, and ex 
officio vice president of the Massachusetts Medical Society ; has held 
the offices of superintending school committee and tOAvn clerk ; has 
held the commission of justice of the peace since January, 1839. 
" 'Past and present prosperity' has been, and is, all I am entitled to, 
or might reasonably expect, and my ' plans for the future' are one 
continued round of pill-peddling." 

Watkins, Francis Nathaniel. (Familiarly called in college, 
"Toby Watkins.") Born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, in 
1818; studied law at the University of Virginia; practiced until 
February, 1849 ; married, August, 1839, to Martha A. Scott of Mis- 



so 

sissippi ; has had seven children, six now living, viz. — Henry J., 
Betty, Agnes V., Charlotte D., Kate C, and Frank S. ; is "part 
farmer and part lawyer ;" since 1849, has been employed as clerk in 
the Bank of Virginia, Farmville, where he has resided from the time 
of his birth ; also, now " cultivates a small farm ;" is a Trustee and 
the Treasurer of Hampden Sidney College, also of U. T. Seminary ; is 
a member and an elder of the Presbyterian church, (0. S.) Politics, 
Whig, decidedly. " I have never sought offices, have been honored 
with some important trusts which I have, I hope, faithfully, usefully 
and honorably discharged. I try to be a civil gentlemen, and believe 
the ' military' to be one gi*and humbug ! I hardly know how to reply 
to No. 10, — I have been blessed with much more prosperity than I 
deserve, though I am not a tno7iey -making man. From principle, 
and necessity in part, it is my privilege and pleasure to lead a life of 
labor. My ' plans for the future' look to the period when I can de- 
vote myself to the training of ray children for God and the country, 
and to the cultivation of my retired farm. My highest ambition is to 
be 

' A christian gentleman, the highest style of man.' 

I know of but few ' incidents' in my life interesting to others, or that 
have had ' a bearing on my present or prospective condition.' I recur 
with no ordinary feelings of pleasure to that period of my life spent 
in New England. While I love Virginia, the 

* Land of my fathers' graves, land of my birth ; 
To me the dearest, loveliest spot on earth,' 

I shall never cease to feel that my residence in the glorious ' old Bay 
State' has materially affected my whole subsequent life, and if my 
name shall ever be associated with anything accomplished for the 
good of my race, I shall stand indebted most of all to the mother who 
bore me, to my wife, the best gift to me from Heaven, and to my 
much loved Alma Mater. Time and distance have separated me far 
from my brothers of '32 ; — possibly my residence south of that mys- 
terious parallel of latitude, known in political geography as ' Mason 
and Dixon's line,' may have estranged some of them from me ; — still, 
I shall ever fondly love thei^, and our common Mother to a degree 



31 



which my poor vocabulary vainly attempts to express. God bless old 
Amherst, and her boys of thirty-tioo !" 



'Thank'ee, Toby; the same to yourself and the "old Dominion." 

In behalf, etc., Ed. 

Wethkell, Isaac. Born in Plymouth, Mass., in 1806 ; taught a 
high school and an academy in Randolph, and Dracut, Mass., also in 
Illinois for several years ; attended lectures at the Theological School 
of Yale College, in 1839 and '40; was licensed and ordained to preach 
the gospel, in 1840; has been preaching or teaching ever since, but 
usually the latter ; is at this time principal of a select school in the 
city of Philadelphia ; married, in 1834, to Elizabeth Parker Webster 
of Milton, Mass., who died in March, 1844; married, in 1849, to 
Mary Louisa Quincy of Portland, who is still living ; no surviving 
children ; " not committed to any party, but generally vote for the 
Whig candidates." "As to degrees or titles of honor, deponent 
saith not, although I have endeavored to live an active and useful 
life. I have only to say that I have generally been prospered to a 
degree for which I have great occasion to be thankful ; nor do I now 
see anything discouraging in regard to the future, except my own 
wayward inclination and want of trust in that Being whose we are, 
whose mercies fail not, and by whose grace alone we can be saved" 

Wilson, Robert. Born in Peterborough, N. H., September 24, 
1811 ; studied law in the office of Hon. James Wilson, Keene ; ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1835; practiced law in Keene from 1835 to '40 ; 
employed from 1841 to '44 in the survey of public lands in Iowa. 
" Never was married, nor ever inclined to be ; present employment. 
Gentleman at large ; regular occupation, the rare one of attending 
to my own business ; connected with no political party entirely ; 
Tariff for the protection of home labor ; Free-Soil to the back-bone, 
as concerns the extension of slavery, or the increase of slave power in 
our government ; have the poorest opinion in the world, or rather a 
most thorough contempt for titles or degrees of honor. Success has 
followed all my efforts in life ; have never failed in any undertaking 
to which I gave my undivided attention. The Suaviter in modo Et 
Fortiter in re accomplishes marvels." 



32 

"Wood, Theodoke Sedgwick. Born in Westminster, Mass., in 
1809 ; after graduation, was employed as a teacher about one year in 
the towns of Athens and Tuscaloosa, in the state of Alabama ; re- 
turned to New England in 1834, and entered the Theological Semi- 
nary at Andover, where he died of typhus fever, August 20th, 1835, 
at a little more than twenty-six years of age, and before he had com- 
menced his second year at the seminary ; became a professor of reli- 
gion at fourteen years, and was at his death a member of an orthodox 
congregational church. An obituary notice which appeared in the 
Boston Recorder of that period, gave interesting particulars respect- 
ing his christian character, and his experiences in his last hours ; but 
we are unable, at this late day, to lay our hands upon it. 

" The memory of the just is blessed." — It is understood, had their 
lives been spared, that the destination of both classmates. Chapman 
and Wood, was to have been the foreign field ; so there is no estima- 
ting the loss which the christian community and the cause of Christ 
have sustained by the early demise of two such fervent spirits. 



SUMMARY.— (" some," Mary.) 

Deceased, ----_.__ 9 

Surviving, -------__ 29 

Clergy, -------.. 9 

Law, 11 

M. D.'s 6 

Hon's --._..._. 5 

in business or trade, --.--_ 4 

Gentlemen at large, --_.__ 2 

No. Children — (partial returns), - - - - 55 

Bachelors {claram et venerabilenomen,') (returns complete) 3 



ADDENDA. 



An extract from the letter of reply of brother Dickinson, of Col- 
chester, will be interesting to classmates, as well for the writer's sake 
as for the subject contemplated in it, as affording a reminiscence of 
Mr. Webster, authentic, and never before in print. It is as follows, 
under date, November 2nd. 

" You may perhaps be interested just at this time, if I briefly relate 
to you the last interview which it was my privilege to enjoy with the 
Great Statesman whose recent departure has filled the Nation with 
gloom. I spent a sabbath at Marshfield a year ago last Augvist. Mr. 
Webster was at church; (I had enjoyed considerable acquaintance 
with him while supplying the pulpit in that place, in 1849.) He 
waited for me to come down from the pulpit, and after thanking me 
for my sermon, invited me to call at his house and spend an after- 
noon. I did so in company with the Pastor of that church. The 
conversation very soon turned on the subject of religion. He again 
alluded to my sermon in the morning of the sabbath before, in terms 
of commendation which modesty would forbid me to repeat, even to a 
classmate ; and then said : — ' I honor a faithful ministry, as sent of 
God to negotiate terms of peace to a rebel world. Religion is a per- 
sonal thing, and I am always gratified when I find a minister of the 
gospel addressing its claims personally to his hearers. I want the 
truth addressed personally to me ; to my own conscience. I must 
stand before my Great Author on my personal character. I do not 
wish to be amused or flattered by the ministers of God, but to be 
dealt with plainly, faithfully and personally. I wish to regard the 

5 



34 

minister as God's mouth speaking to me as an individual, to tell me 
my case just as it is.' "With conversation of a like import most of 
the afternoon was passed, and more than once, those dark and pierc- 
ing eyes were suffused with tears while the great themes of Redemp- 
tion were under discussion ! He seemed to grasp them in the same 
clear and gigantic manner in which he was accustomed to grasp other 
subjects, and in a word, I was exceedingly gratified with the inter- 
view, and think I ought to be a better minister for having enjoyed it." 

Most of the class will read with interest the following shrewd, dis- 
criminating, and withal, richly honest sentiments regarding the pres- 
ent postiire of political affairs in Massachusetts, extracted from the 
letter of reply of a brother whose name appears in these pages, and 
who Avas, until quite recently, a resident in a town in this common- 
wealth, and once acting with the free-soil party in it, but is now living 
in another state. As it was not written in direct reply to the question 
on that subject (No. 8), we are not at liberty to present it here under 
the writer's name. 

" But what the dickens has so bewitched the politics of ? 

That Free- Soil movement that I thought so well of in its inception 
(for in my simplicity I imagined it promised to bring demagogues to 
terms, and save us from the miserable bullying of the slave holders, 
and their senseless dictation of our great national interests), has be- 
come a chief instrument of demagoguism, and is worse than useless, 
to say the least, for any of the purposes for which it gained the sym- 
pathies and support of many good men. All its fruit — husks, smut, 
and chaff — must go into the capacious hopper of the ravenous Democ- 
racy, the only vital doctrine of which aggregate of parties sheltered 
under that name, is expressed by the universal compromising proffer, 
without regard to subjects or occasions , — ' Vote for me and I '11 vote 
for you. All is fair in politics' !" 

Note. This extract is given entirely without the writer's knowl- 
edge. It is hoped he will pardon the liberty we have taken. When 
it meets his eye, he will be surprised, but we hope not angry, and that 
he will accept our cordial congratulations on his having come to the 
light, at last! Comp. 



85 ' 

The following lines, written on the occasion of the meeting of the 
Class of 1816 in Yale College, in 1850, by the wife of one of the 
members of the class (the accomplished lady of Judge Taylor of Can- 
andaigua, N. Y.), and published in the Historical Sketches of that 
class, are so appropriate, and exjjress sentiments and feelings so per- 
fectly congenial with those which characterized the late similar gath- 
ering of our own class, that, in the absence of an original production 
of a similar character, we gladly avail ourselves of permission, and 
transfer the article entire to our own pages, with this expression of 
our thanks to the fair authoress, and to Rev. Wm. C. Fowler, Secre- 
tary of the Class of 1816 (Yale). 



Written on occasion of the meeting of the Class of 1816, at New 
Haven on the evening of August 14, 1850. 

One eve, ere sunset-hour had set in night, 
A remnant band were gathered close once more, 
For Memory led them, with its quenchless light, 
Where er'st their footsteps trod, in days of yore. 



Now hand in hand, a heart warm grasp, they give, 
And earnest look into each others' s face, 
To mark, if Time's rude fingers, still let live, 
One line of boyhood's life, or youthful grace. 



One generation of earth's life had fled, 
Since thus they stood, upon this classic ground, 
Where m their bopsh hours, that blissful sped, 
They met in class, or mirthful frolic found. 



Now passed their manhood's prime, again they stand, 
With silvered hair, and lines of thought drawn deep, 
Won by their mutual call from o'er the land. 
At this calm hour, their sacred tryst to keep. 



Thus gathered there, hark ! how the heart's law tone 
ELnells, solemnly, the doom of long past hours 



36 

Each one recalls, their life's experience ; lone, 

And dark, so oft, since here they cuU'd Hope's flowers. 



Anon, doth memory streak with light the past, 
Joys tasted, cluster' d hopes, loves, once concealed, 
Come dancing, o'er the mind, and quickly cast 
Into the shade, the form of care reveal' d. 



It is a season of tumultuous thought, 
Life's history writ, in many a bygone year. 
With joy and sorrow, toil ana care full fraught 
Is now all read, in that brief meeting here. 



But soon these hearts, their blest communion find, 
While varied tones, declare what life had known, 
In earth's great struggle ; workings of the mind, 
Shaping each destiny, to fullness grown. 



With interest deep, the ntimbered list they trace 
Fearful, lest one, they pass, unheeded by. 
There still enroll' d, though but for some brief space 
In scenes, round which such hoarded memories lie. 



Some sleep the sleep from which they shall not wake 
Till all have marked the dial with Time's hoxu-s ; 
Some of earth's highest place and praise partake, 
Some wield Heaven's truth, and some judicial powers. 



Some, with inventive skill, have science proved. 

Which here, so long ago, its lessons gave, 

Or in far Academic halls, have moved, 

Minds,' which in turn, shall learning's laurels wave. 



Some, in the dark benighted lands of earth 
Have gone as Mercy's angels from afar. 
Have told the story of the Saviour's birth, 
And fixed the wandering eye on Bethl'em's star. 



37 



Again they turn tu dwell on youthful times. 
And freshen thought, from Memory's fragrant store, 
Of scenes that traced for them, Life's little lines, 
"While Alma Mater dealt its classic lore. 



Boys Avere they, theti, alas ! how strange it seems, 
That noio, as men, they tell these follies o'er, 
The tales appear, almost as Fancy's gleams ; 
The chords of youtlifiil mii-th are struck no more. 



The houi-s rolled sw'iftly roimd, while thus they stood. 
Heart joined to heart, in dwelling o'er the past. 
With thoughts and feelings swelling Uke a flood. 
Tossing and troubled, since they could not last. 



But midnight came, again the farewell spoken, 
The warm embraces given, in Manhood's hour. 
While moistened eyes, and quivering hp, gave token, 
How much Remembrance wrought by her strange power. 

M. C. M. TAYLOR. 



VALE. 



I HAVE now completed the task which the class honored me by 
imposing on me last Commencement. Brethren, I thank you for 
your forbearance so kindly extended to me when I have so pertina- 
ciously teased you; — first, in that matter of getting up the "Vigin- 
tal," and more recently, in my importunate urging you up to the 
mark in forwarding your replies to the last circular. If, in the hot 
haste of its preparation, the work either in matter or execution, should 
not quite come up to your mark, I ask you still to extend your kind 
forbearance. I have done the best I could under the circumstances. 
Several members (doubtless for good reasons) have thought best to 
withhold their replies ;— of such of these as were present at the vigin- 
tal, I have made out their page from the imperfect records of that 
Meeting ; — of the others, from the readiest sources of imformation 
within my reach, and from what I already knew of them from pre- 
vious correspondence. If, like the good cabinet-maker who deems 
himself bound to " turn off the best job" he can, from the materials 
afforded him, I have in any case, told too big a story (it's a way I 
have sometimes), or in another, " cut you off with a shilling," in all 
I crave your charitable forgiveness. Increasing infirmities admonish 
me of the uncertainty whether I shall ever be privileged to behold 
you again, and I take occasion also in this place, to thank you for all 



39 

your kind sympathy, and the affectionate interest so invariably ten- 
dered me both in the early, and the later years of my present physi- 
cal infirmities. Be assured : — while I live, I shall ever cherish next 
my heart the days and the associates of college life, having little else 
earthly to lavish my affections on. Let me, in conclusion, echo the 
prayer of Bro. " Toby :" — God bless Alma Mater and her noble boys 
of Thirty-Two ! 

Aff. ever, 

Z. C. M. 

Januaky 1st, 1853. 



It. 



Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. — Gal. 6 : ii. 

It has been suggested by a classmate that it would be well that 
the class should know in regard to the worldly circumstances and 
means of support of each member, that if any are in depressed circum- 
stances, or struggling for the means of support, those who in the 
good providence of God, have become strong in this respect, may 
take measures to help the weak. The suggestion is a noble one. It 
comes from a generous and full heart, and may result in great good. 
The compiler knows not at this present, of any such, nor of any 
widow or orphan children of deceased brothers unprovided for, but if 
there should be any in this condition, whose eye this notice shall 
meet, he is requested to make his case frankly known at the time of 
acknowledgement of this pamphlet, that arrangements may be made, 
if deemed practicable by the class, to carry out the design of the 
warm-hearted brother who suggests it. 

PP. S. Apology : — Members will perceive that in the state- 
ments under their names I have in several instances, given gratuitous 
information, on subjects not embraced in the circular, and from other 
sources than their replies. I have only to say in apology for the lib- 
erty taken, that my sole object throughout has been to give as true 
and faithful a picture as I could of each one, as he has been the past 
twenty years, and is at this time — just what each would like to know 
of the others — and to do this the most faithfully and effectuallj', I 
have, unauthorized, sometimes borrowed largely from their own 
words, as furnishing a truer likeness and better picture of the man 
than any amount of description that I might give : — besides, I con- 
ceive it to be both my privilege and duty, as a faithful historian, to 
attempt to rescue from oblivion all th.Q facts I have become possessed 
of, no matter from what source derived, so it be honest and reliable, 
and they not offensive or disreputable, either to individuals, the class, 
or to Alma Mater ; and which otherwise might never have seen the 
light, at least in our day. Of the authenticity of the statements, the 
responsibility of which I have assumed, there is no doubt, z. c. m. 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 334 860 3 



SPECIAL NOTICE 



■ Each Member of the Class is respectfully requested to acknoAvl- 
edge the receipt of this to Z. C. M. (sometime within the coining 
year 7) and at the same time to correct any errors and to supply 
any deficiencies which he may notice in the account given, either 
of himself or of others. In this way, materials may be furnished 
for a more full statement in the next edition, if the class at their 
appointed Meeting in 1857, should decide to publish one. It is 
to be regretted that so little information could be obtained con- 
cerning a number of our classmates. 



